Tracy 



An historic 
strain of 
blood in 
America 



CS71 

.C6 

1908 



U [)d] 549 430 t 



An 



3Ira«r?a Klatl^attt — ^-n' 



■"IF.ALOGl.-ii; 

CONNECTICt 




c.^ 






^ 



I|t0tonr ^trattt of llflflJi m Am? rira 

from tt|r Wih Wavlh 

into t^t Nrm Warlh anb 3nfuHpIi 

nf ti|P Amrnran ■Nation ^ Prngrng of 3lrrrmiat| (Elarkr 

anb Ijta totfp, Hfrnntts ICattjam, " ©In? ilotl|pr of ^owrnora " j* JntirHttgattono 



.^.Louise Tracy 

I^Ew Hav>;n, Connecticut 



Author of "The Two Martha Goodspeeds"' in New York, Biographical and Genealogical Record — Compiler of Amity 
Records — Genealogist to Mahir,'3Bistinguished American Families, ' 



^^^g^HE power of |*^ heredity, 
' / ^ I which, whejptt.4ts secret 
■ 1 I ^^ discovered by some 
A m \j future scientist, may 
^^^^^ solve many of the prob^ 
^^^^ lems of physical, menta-I 
and moral man, is fre- 
quently observed by American gene- 
alogists who are interested in the 
psychological aspect of their re- 
searches. That there will come a 
scientist who will discover the 
science of heredity as Harvey did 
the circulation of the blood ; Newton, 
the power of gravitation, or Frank- 
lin the existence of electricity, is 
more than a probability. Through 
such discovery may be solved the 
problems of marriage relations and 
the development of men and women 
to the highest plane of life. 

Genealogy to-day is the social 
foundation through which this dis- 
covery may be made. Several emi- 
nent American genealogists have re- 
cently noted marked instances of 
strong strains of blood that have 
dominated generations. Instances 
have been observed where strong 
lines overcome the inter-flow of all 
incoming strains. The blood of man 
holds the secret of the ages ; through 
his veins runs the generations ; he is 
the reincarnation of thousands that 
have left their earthly immortality in 
him. How much of us is the chem- 



istry of the generations ; how much 
of us is astrological influence ; hq'w 
much of us is individual divinity, or 
human effort, or environment, or 
opportunity, or chance, is the secret 
which someone must some time re- 
veal to mankind. In the meantime,, 
we are building future generations 
wholly on adventure, accident, and 
coincidence, — where we happen to 
go, whom we happen to meet, and 
the circumstances. There is no 
known designed or defined order in 
the most important and the greatest 
creation within the power of human- 
kind. 

A recent research by Louise 
Tracy, one of the Connecticut gene- 
alogists, offers opportunity for study. 
In tracing a genealogical line out of 
the Old World into the New World 
in the early days of the transplanting 
of the English blood in America, this 
genealogist follows it through sev- 
eral illustrious families, and a re- 
markable chain of governors and po- 
litical leaders which distinguishes it 
historically as "the mother of Amer,- 
ican governors." The record is 
here made purely as a contribution' 
to American historical and genea- 
logical literature. All rights are 
herewith assigned to the author, from* 
the original publication in The Jour- 
nal OF American History. — Enrrop-, 



M-7 



An liifitnrtr Strain of llnnin in Am^rtra 



X?(X>^|) 







/^ 



c 



(^izt^^ 











SEAL AND AUTOGRAPH OF GOVERNOR WALTER CLARKE— Photograph 
from an Original Deed in the possession of the Newport Historical Society and 
believed to contain the long-sought and much-desired Clarke Coat-of-Arms 



3T would seem, that in the 
American nation of to- 
day, with its nearly 
twenty million homes, 
that the narrative of the 
lives of a man and his 
wife would scarcely 
come within the scope of American 
history; but, when we look back, 
three centuries or more, upon this 
broad land of ours, and picture in 
our minds, its grand forests, rapid 
rivers and broad lakes, lying under 
winter snows or summer sunshine, 
in a stillness broken only by nature's 
sounds or the wild whoop of the In- 
dian, and contrast it with the teem- 
ing cities, lakes and rivers bearing 
sailing craft or steamers to and fro, 
the hum of mills, roar of engine and 
train, the uncouth automobile horn, 
in short, all the busy activity of 



the millions of human beings in- 
habiting this Western Continent, we 
can but admit that we owe the 
change to the men and women who 
left home and kindred and braved 
the dangers of the sea and a life in 
the wilderness, to establish homes for 
themselves in the New World. Many 
of them came to escape religious 
persecution, others to better their 
fortunes, but one and all had to bat- 
tle with the trials of settlement in a 
new country, famine, pestilence and 
the horrors of Indian warfare. 

With the building of their homes 
and church — or even before, as in 
the case of the "Mayflower" Pil- 
grims — came their plans for civil 
government. 

They builded better than they 
knew ; probably not one of them 
imagined, in the faintest degree, 



Jffratir^a Hatliam Ollark^— iintti^r of ^cu^rnnra 




PORTRAIT OF LEWIS LATHAM, FALCONER TO 
CHARLES I— Father of Frances Latham Clarke 



what the result of their labors would 
be; or, that the end of three centuries 
would find it numbered as one of the 
most important of the nations. 

Among the early settlers of what 
we now call Rhode Island, was Jere- 
miah Clarke, who came from Eng- 
land, bringing with him his newly- 
wedded wife and her children by a 
former husband, William Dungan, of 
London. Where, or when he was 
born, or who were his parents, is as 
yet, so far as the writer has discov- 
ered, unknown. That his wife be- 
longed to a family of position in 
England, is known, and from that, 
and the fact that he at once took a 
prominent place among the people 
with whom he had cast his lot, we in- 
fer him to have been a man of fine 
education, and of a family equal to 
that of his wife. 




In the "Common Burial Ground" at New- 
port — Drawing by Charles L. N. Camp 




^ ii "Iii»l««'M ii^i III 




LATHAM MANOR HOUSE— ANCESTRAL HOME IN LANCASHIRE, ENGLAND, 
OF THE LATHAM BLOOD IN AMERICA 




COMMON BURIAL GROUND OF NEWPORT— Now called the "Governors' Lot." 
showing head and foot-stone of Frances (Clarke) Vaughan, "Mother of Governors," in 
foreground — Drawing by Cliarlcs L. N. Camp, Genealogist, of New Haven. Connecticut 



Jffranrfs Satlram Qllarke — MatifH at dnuf mora 



Jeremiah Clarke — Progenitor 
of an Ancient American Family 

In 1639, he was chosen "Elder" 
at Aquidneck, and on April 28th of 
the same year, he, with eight others, 
signed the compact at Portsmouth, 
preparatory to the settlement of a 
new town at the south end of the 
island, later called Newport. In 1640, 
he was appointed constable, and on 
March loth of the same year, is re- 
corded as owning sixteen acres of 
land at Newport. The same year he 
attended the General Court of Elec- 
tions, and in 1642 was chosen lieu- 
tenant of the Newport Militia. 
March 13, 1644, he was chosen as 
captain, then the highest military rank 
in the colony. 

He served as treasurer for New- 
port, 1644-1647; and 1647-1649, as 
treasurer of the colony. In 1648, he 
was chosen governor's assistant, 
an office similar to the senator of to- 
day, and, pending the clearance of 
certain accusations against Governor 
William Coddington, he was elected 
governor, under the title of "Presi- 
dent," thus attaining to the highest 
position within the gift of his fellow- 
men. 

In 1651, having served his day and 
generation well, as one of the "Mak- 
ers of American History," he fell 
asleep and was laid to rest in the town 
of which he was one of the founders, 
the "Friends' Meeting" of January, 
1652, thus recording his death and 
burial : "Jeremiah Clarke, one of the 
first English planters of Rhode 
Island, died at Newport, in said 
island, and was buried in the tomb 
that stands by the street on the 

waterside, Newport, upon the 

day of the eleventh month, 1651," 

Sixty-three years later, his burial- 
place is referred to by his grand- 
children, in the settlement of the es- 
tate of their father. Governor Walter 
Clarke, they giving to Colonel John 
Cranston, also a grandchild, a cer- 



tain piece of land on Main Street, 
"said land being given in considera- 
tion of its being kept in good condi- 
tion, and never broke up, but kept in 
good and decent manner as a memo- 
riall to our honored grand-father, 
Jeremiah Clarke, whose body was 
interred there in Feb., 1651." Suc- 
ceeding generations of the Cranston 
family must have ignored the "con- 
sideration," for the place where he 
was interred is now covered with 
buildings. Mr. Tilley, an authority 
on the early history of Newport, 
thinks it have been where the "Bos- 
ton Store" stands on Main, now 
Thames Street. 

Were it possible to find the old 
tomb to-day, it might solve the mys- 
tery which surrounds the a'ncestry 
of Jeremiah Clarke, for it must have 
given the date and place of his birth, 
and, probably, as so many of the 
gravestones of the early Newport 
families did, his coat-of-arms ; but not 
even a description of the tomb, other 
than the above, have I found. That 
his son. Governor Walter Clarke, 
used a coat-of-arms, we know, for in 
the settlement of his estate, in 1714, 
his children, who were daughters, 
"agree, that our Uncle, Weston 
Clarke, shall have our father's seal, 
on zvhich our father's coat-of-arms is 
engraven." This seal he had prob- 
ably, as eldest son, inherited from his 
father. 

Search for the Coat=of=Arms 
of Jeremiah Clarke in America 

For some years, various persons, I 
among them, had been searching for 
the Jeremiah Clarke coat-of-arms. 
Having examined every printed de- 
scription of the family that I could 
find, also copies of wills and deed^, 
and finding nothing but the above, I 
turned my attention to Clarke grave- 
stones, A diligent search in differ- 
ent grave-yards showed no stone — 
even that of Governor Walter Clarke, 
in Clifton graveyard in Newport — 




Lewis La.tHa-m== 

Kinq Charles. I. 



Frances LatKam i.WiHiciiTl Dunqan= ix) Jei'emiali Clarl<e=C 

u vuoiw. of rc'stinoiiort In Ttie. Coloviu 
SiQVter o( ^tne. C«nipcicT at PoyTs-ntoiiTl 

Trfeaoier -j--^- -?i-- 

Membw of ni«- General Covi-T o( Ele( 
LiecTenaKT, |t'^t , Ceajlai'w. . . . . . 

Treasurer j'or K/ewpovT. |G 

Xvt<^sore\; o( tWe. CoLowu ■^ m tours -16 

Pi-cs'iUewT Recjftwl acTmo otsGowni 



Dunqan 

mes [Barker 

orporal IG^i/ Ensign ItU 

lenibei' oj the Gencml Court c 

iwiwlssionei' 3 yecirs 

oua.1 CliRi-rerer - 

S^istawt 9 "j't'-fS 

epurtj 'X M«"r3 

lepctu £)cverwoi 



■ 

WillioLmDawduii 



olElcct.ok. IfeV^ 



-- 16&3 



<.n 



Frances Dunqan RevThomasDonqan 

=^ Major RanSoll Holkn i/^ one oj the jf who 
^ 5,-ntve/ ol the ComloucT a^ ^°<''' ^'^f °J ,f 0." ° 

L.OUnrviiKCLnunr uonrt vi. ■. a. .^ >. ' . 



Jeremiah Clarke fe>ifeU-a 



CoMimissiortcr Q yeciri 



MiKister •( rtie FiV»t 
Beusti'sT Chureli of 
CeiU SprinOj. Pa.. 



Barker 
:ho\os Easton 
A H OR. Peter 
ston , l)L) wije 



CapT James Barker 
Mewvb«r otTrooii of 
Horse Wi De^ulJ 

Coud Martial IfeH 
AsSi'stakt -^ vjcaw. 



PeVrBwrker , UntlTavu Barker 
= I.FTeel«ve91ijs DepwtM 5 
S. o) Hoii Edwai-a V- ^<»"-pJ Gov. tjears 
= (1) Israel ^vnolS BeMcJut Arneld ^ri 



Marti Barker 
= ^.Elishfl.5mltK 



Dcpofu H Ljeuri 
S-oiStepKen Arjioltl. 



Walter Clarke, t. 

AssisTant IGt3-T'(-" 

©oveinor lfe76-1.'Sfe: 

Deputu (s»ver«oi- !l3 l 

Member of Sir EdmO 

Countil, I6»6 ^ 

==• I. Content Greenmc 

= X Hannalx Scott e|.o 

= 3 MrsJreeborii 

, .Roger Willi 

= S. Mrs.SaraK 

Manhewf 



Gove' 



<( MCftvs ovi 
EfUor's Cool 



OHCll ■ 







m 










-Lieot Charles HoUen Frances Holdett EliiabeThHolden Mctru , 

Depotij from Warwick I7i5-ife =s Uieul. John Holmes ;=:Capt John Rice =V)oh 
''■'■'" ' ' Deputy3 years _ '^ _ 

General rreaSorei' 
lfe<J0-l~I03 



<oitlienne(breene,4<"i- "j 
•pulu &overi-ioi- \Joh\t Greene, 
and. liirougK their Son ftntV>oni4 



Hold en tUey were antestovi of 
Heviru Lipp'itt Govei-vior otR- 1 
I'ilS-UTToi.H.iliis Sox ' 
Charles Warren Li'ppVtt 
Sovernor i»9S-96. ' 



Deputy g .years. 



Joh 
Depul 



KQriiarrneHolmes== Joseph (bariiner 



William GcxrctinersssMani d 



Maru ©ardiVier Gapt Peleo Clarke 



vjolin Gardirver CdcsceMt provedl bu deftdL) 
Deputy fa overnor o{ ft. 1. 115^. Ifst -n's^ 

== Frawtes SawforcL- I" 

Tliroufjh their qrand-Jaoahter tlizobel 
VHarr'ied John Rooerj the^ were The cti 
oj S annuel Sreei^e Arno\ci. Uieot 6ov 



,, *'*o the riemory o\ 

"he Hon>L« JOHN GAFCDNER. Esc. 

ite Lieut > over nor oF this Colonv 

This Tomb is dedicate a «' 

changed this Life for one" mo re 8'o»''ous 
Ml the 29"* t)av of January. A.D. 1764-. 

m 1he 69* Year of hfs Age. 
Death was to the Community the loss of 
seful and wovth^ Member: To his Dlscon 
iTe Wife and numerous OffspriiiQ a. loss 
parable he was ex lovins 8r indulgent Husband 
^ell as a tendti-dnd affecTionAte Pdi-enT and 
remarkable for his affable and courteous 

Deportment to all Men. 
le\/oun§ he devoted himself to the service 
is Country in which he was advanced, to 
y rosTs of the greatesl Trust which he 

aischarged with honour and fidelity 
^as earl^/ received nxtb the Baptist Church 
L Lommynionof which he remained a worthy 
ber till his Jjealh; His Life .Was eyemplarv^ 
few men. 1-iacL a more extensive Charity for 
Christians of every Denomination. 

l*J/* aH^°^'' ^^h":^ ^'^ Sickness with beconiins 
nc« and Resignation a glorious. Presaae of his 
tnappi.ness: And we trust be is now cd rest 
» MAiV»i<|na of BJils^s w.TK his Red«iemer " 
the Spirits of just Men mad*. perfecT. 



;toric strain of blood in 

instead of l66i — The name " Gold " 



hjoMCu Clarke 



= Hon. Christopher Fowler 



Sarah Fowler 

=.C©I . Edward Marhn 




Gardner 



Sarah Kate Martin 

= Rev, Horace L.E. Pratt". 



Dallas Bachc Pratt" 

= Maru Gordon Landon 



Alexonder Baclie Pratt 



KoiWan'ne Gn'swold Pratt ■—, LycurqusWindiester 



Constance Sou^hworth 

Beatrice Gordon Pratt 



iffaiti 




Greene 



(-« Governors l>vj 
Jeremiah;Clarke (I 

Walter Clarke ^ 
John CroMsToM. . 
Samuel CransTon 
Colek Carr. 
Williaw Orceiaelst 
William Greene 1»" 
H«wru Lipp'iit M 
Charles Warreri LJpp 

N«hemlaK Rice Kvii 
William Wawtoh. 
CUarles Collins Vai- 
John RctnUtn Ro< 



Jaw 
Johi 
JoK* 

Wai 
Wili 
Wilt' 
Sail" 
Choi. 

Wil 



Hope Gordon Winchester, 
Kathoirine L^corq*usWind-»ester, 



*Lm.] 



AMERICA FROiM LEWIS LATHAM, FALCONER TO KING CHARLE 
in the Walter Clarke line is more freauentlv used as "Gould" — The reror 



I 

\LES I — Chart drawn I 

•d of tlip annniiitniPuLj 



William Voii/cihan 



011/^1 





Latham 



Stdt. 




ran 



Ko-i'u Clarke laiG<( 
===- Dr.uiidCcipT.Joh(iGrans1oii 

AltorueiJ&enercilfor Piov'iitnce 
•AMtlWiArw'itk lOJf .'55, '56 



Latham Clarke, LiG'iS Weston ClarRcbiG^? James Clarke, fc.ifr'^^. SaraUClark 



Commissioner loss '59, '(>0,6I 43 
bcpoTu (CdV — l&iO , , 

De|»_ol(jGt>vernor.ltti,'73,"JC^."r7.r 
Moior and Ckitf Capital n of all tha 
Colohu.from Ifcit ' 

IMavor. Ifcll-MV 
_G>ovemor iCltf.'ig.'tO. 



Membev- of Court M^rTioJ 
'92.. 



•o(CovjrrM<»rTiok|.l(.76 



einbci- olCouit Murti'ul. It/ft. 

> ^..r.' 1 It.-yr ^tt '*Oa 



M 

AttorneuG'ewerol l«>7<i ',77.'i4. 
'»l,'»S.''t'<,'»5i'l<;. 
teneralTreciSurer I6SI — 1it6 
Oeneral Kecoreltr. XJk ueckrf Mmk«» 

OcvwmWvoKvr o< i3auHclalrt«« 

I70J- ao«( ■' 

M Coww mittcet* «r«w w^ I«k^S 

tortheCaloHij. 



Rxstor of Second 



= I. John Pinn« 
= 1. Caleb Ccii' 
CoVMmittiovi 

'sg.'aoi'd 

Geyieral Tr 
0«)»utu til 

AsiittoinT \ 
Governor. 



Samuel Cranston 
AssUtahl 1G4C 
Mojer for Utandt I698 
Governor o| R. 1 -1 49».-n 11 
30ijear« 



)6. 



Col J Alio Grawston 
Depoti^ 9 ijears 
«» peaker of House 
•tD«pufie»VTII>nU 
Assl&TaMt.lTJfc. 



Frances Clar|<e 

= - John Sawford sonof Sovwoei and 

Whew o((oov. Pele9Sanfori 



Dirabeth Cr««sVon 
" Ct«bt John Broww 

t)epu'V] "iSutarS Ap»oilit»ii 
011 aspccral Council to 
assist the Governor in 
adv',(te ■for the speed y cx- 
-p»d'ition of the oyeor de- 
-si<3n viovi'mtenVed aqaiM^ 
Cort«i«ltL. 
*"Z . Re V. dames Honeu vna rv. 
Paster •/ Oli TrlKirtj. 



Satw(»tlClavke=HaMv»«.KWi'lcocKs. 



Aucllck} Clc<rk< SoroWWeceicn 



M. 



t or worriftoe 

) PresiSent CWi'ri<) Gov. IfelfJ- 

Governor e[ Rhode Island. 1676 - G j)**'* 

. , .. i(,1i-l^'to. 

- • . M - • 26 years. 

- .. «... .-„ »G95 

H .( .. >• I'T'^j - nsi 
m? - 17>5 

" » ' )»7S - 1877. 
1»95 - l»9fe 

1732 ' 1733 

» „ ^ " l«77 - ItrKg 

,. Washi'M<}toi» 1S16-I101 
died dbn'ii^ 1*^ +er«i 



Lieutenant Governors, 




SanFortL 



•Ue 
Bene l« 
ene l"* * 
ne Arnold * 
ler Van Zandt 
eeMe '^ 






lG7St 

, I7t'/ 
I'l years 




UT3-|»75. 




ArnolcL 




j_ Th<? Body of JOHN CRANSTON 

Island gee-. He departed-'TKls Life lAi 
thea^*- l6Ko'm^e55^^V'earof 
His Age. 

Here If •tl-. 
Tilt Body of SAMUEL 
CaAN5TOr4,Es<^ 
^LaT« &«vernoor of This » 
Colony AgeoL 6 ?( Years (5C ^ 
iJtcpartectthis Life April v^ U*^ 
A. D. 17.27 he was 5ovx of John. 
CransToit Esor^ vvho also was 

Go\^€r>iour hcie ISJTO. He. was 
. destendwd from the Nfobit ScotMsIt 
Uord Cranston, And carried in Ki* V 
a ♦Tr©4m of the A«ti«nt Eirla of 
Crawford Bothwell &TraqadLi»» 
Having had for his Grandfather Japi 
CranaTon Clerk CkipUin to K-n^Char/ 
int First Hi* Great Grandfather was 
John CraMston of PooI.Esg.^ Th'i3 last 
WAS son t« James Cranjton fe^,»' \VhieK 
JaTtT«s wa5 Son to William Lord Cransl 
R«st )?<H*py *^«*« 8ir»ve PiTriflt. w'>tt.«ot Em a.. 
tVi Coor»Ti-«jV FitK«r fif tky Coontr^'j Fm',h 



L. N. Camp for The Journal of American History — Recent discoverie.s authenticate the date of the death of Jeremiah Clarke 
'"ranston as assistant to the Governor in Rhode Island seems to be somewhat olDscure in the engravinor Vrnt should be transcri 



An IfiBtnrii: Strain nf II006 in Am^rtra 



bearing anything more than an in- 
scription. Then I determined to 
look for original papers signed 
"by Governor Clarke, both as citi- 
zen and governor. Mr. Tilley, the 
courteous Curator of the Newport 
Historical Society, and also Commis- 
sioner of Records for the State of 
Rhode Island, kindly allowed me to 
examine all the papers of which he 
bad charge, and among them I worked 
for weeks. Paper after paper was 
examined, each a fresh disappoint- 
ment, until, one morning, when hope 
was almost gone, I was informed, on 
my arrival at the Historical Society 
Rooms, that in a bundle of old papers 
brought in the day before, had been 
found a deed, given by Governor 
Walter Clarke, in 1705, bearing a 
seal, which was probably the one for 
which I was searching. The seal, I 
saw at once, bore an heraldic device, 
which, when examined through a 
magnifying glass, showed quite 
plainly, and was evidently made by 
the seal. With Mr. Tilley's permis- 
sion, and under his supervision, I had 
a photograph taken — somewhat en- 
larged — of the signature and seal, 
and on my return to New Haven, had 
another photograph, still more en- 
larged, taken of the seal. 

Frances Latham and Her Marriage 
to Jeremiah Clarke in Britain 

Frances Latham (spelled Francis 
on both her head and foot-stone) was 
baptized in the parish of Kempston, 
County Bedford, England, February 
15, 1609-10, and was the daughter 
of Lewis Latham, of Estow, County 
Bedford, England. Lewis Latham 
was of a Cadet branch of the Lathams 
of County Lancaster, England, and 
bore the arms of that family. He 
was falconer to Richard Berrick, and 
under-falconer to Charles, Prince of 
Wales, who, on ascending the throne 
as Charles I, retained his falconers, 
and in 1627, promoted Lewis Latham 
to the office of serjeant-falconer. 
Latham probably remained in office 
until his death, in 1655. 



Among the possessions of Frances 
Latham, and said to have been 
brought over to New England by her, 
was a portrait of the old falconer, 
thought to have been painted by Sir 
Peter Lely, which is now owned by 
one of her descendants, the late Hon- 
orable William Lukens Elkins, of 
Philadelphia. 

According to a tradition in the 
family (See "Barker Family"), Fran- 
ces Latham married, first. Lord Wes- 
ton, then William Dungan, per- 
fumer, of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields 
Parish, London, and after his death 
married Mr. Jeremiah Clarke and 
came over to New England. After 
his death, she married the Reverend 
Mr. Vaughan, pastor of the Baptist 
Church, in Newport. 

Mr. George Austin Morrison, 
junior, in his able work on "The 
Clarkes of Rhode Island," doubts the 
first marriage, however, and he gives 
such good reasons for it that I quote 
them, verbatim : 

"Notwithstanding this" (the Bar- 
ker statement), "the belief is ad- 
vanced, with great show of reason, 
that her first husband was not 'Lord 
Weston, as the Herald's Visitations 
and Peerages give no one possessing 
such a title, contemporary with her. 
There was a Baron Weston, created, 
1628, but his genealogy does not 
show any such alliance. If she mar- 
ried a Lord Weston, it must have 
been at an extremely early age, and 
the fact that she exchanged the title 
of Lady Weston, to marry William 
Dungan, the perfumer, is improbable. 

"The name Weston, however, among 
her descendants must be explained, 
and to this end the genealogy of the 
Clarke familly of Willoughby, County 
Warwick, is of great interest. This 
family bear coat armor blazoned as 
follows : Argent, on a bend ; gules, 
between three pellets, as many swans 
of the first; on a sinister canton, 
azure, a ram's head, salient, of the 
first, and in chief, two fleur-de-lis, or, 
crest, a ram's head, couped, proper. 
Burke's Peerage gives this family." 



IfranttB ICattjam (Ulntkt — iHnttj^r nf (gnu^rnnrB 



Mr. Morrison also adds: "A James 
Clarke of East Farleigh, Gent, left a 
will, dated July 13, 1614, proved No- 
vember I, 1614, in which he mentions 
that his house and orchard lying at 
■Court Wood Gate, in the parish of 
Wynton, is to go, after death of 
Griffin Roches and wife Jane, to 
Weston Clarke, and his heirs for- 
ever." Frances Latham was four or 
five years old when this will, mention- 
ing a Weston Clarke was made, 
which adds weight to Mr. Morrison's 
telief that the name Weston did not 
come into the Clarke family through 
her marriage with a Weston. 

To quote again from Mr. Morri- 
son's work : "''Eliza Britton, born 
Aug. 21, 1798, dau. Elizabeth Clarke,^ 
Audley,'* Henry,^ Jeremiah,- Jere- 
miah,^ left, among her effects, a photo 
of a coat of arms, which was evi- 
<iently taken from the tomb of Sir 
John Clarke, Knt, at Thames Church, 
County Oxford, and the arms bla- 
zoned thereon are exactly the same 
as those borne by the present baronet, 
who is a lineal descendant of Sir 
John Clarke of Weston. This seems 
a claim on Eliza Britton's part, to 
have descended from this family. 
The theory advanced now is, that 
Frances Latham never married a 
Lord Weston, but that Jeremiah 
Clarke, when she married him, was 
Lord of the Manor of Weston." 

Note, also, that Frances Latham 
gave the name of Weston to a Clarke, 
not a Dungan child ; that the seal of 
Governor Clarke is to be given to an 
uncle, Weston Clarice, and that Jere- 
miah Clarke named one of his sons 
James. (See will of James Clarke.) 

The seal photo I have submitted to 
various persons versed in heraldry. 
All agree that the arms are similar 
to those of Latham, but differ as to 
the crest, the majority thinking it 
suggestive of the lark or dove ris- 
ing, with or without the ear of wheat 
in its mouth, as used by some of the 
English Clarkes. However, I simply 
record the find and leave the matter 
open for discussion. 



Of Frances (Latham) Clarke's 
personal appearance or character, no 
word has come down to us through 
the generations, except in the lives 
of such distinguished descendants as 
few women have given to the world. 
Lowell says that every man is a bun- 
dle of his ancestors ; of her, we might 
say that she lives in her descendants. 
It is said : "The hand that rocks the 
cradle, rules the world," and with the 
birth and care of her eleven children, 
giving them the careful training of 
those days, besides the keeping of the 
home, and entertaining the noted men 
and women of the times, her life 
must have been a very full one. She 
must have been, in the truest sense, 
a "help-meet" to her distinguished 
husband, and the loved and honored 
mother of her children. 

That she undoubtedly was an at- 
tractive woman, her three marriages 
would indicate. Left a widow at 
twenty-six, with four children, she 
was soon taken to wife by Jeremiah 
Clarke, and when again widowed, in 
165 1, when forty-one years of age, 
she was sought in marriage by the 
Reverend Mr. Vaughan, probably her 
pastor. Each one of her sons served 
his country, or church, with public 
service, and each daughter married 
men who did the same. 

One can imagine the gathering of 
distinguished men and women in the 
"Common Burial Ground" of New- 
port, on that September day of 1677, 
when Frances Vaughan, recently wid- 
owed for the third time, was laid in 
her grave. 

There was her eldest Clarke son, 
then governor ; her daughter Mary, 
with her husband, then Deputy-Gov- 
ernor John Cranston, later, governor, 
and their son Samuel, a young strip- 
ling, who, before the century closed, 
would also be a governor, holding 
the office for thirty years ; her daugh- 
ter Sarah, sometime the wife of Gov- 
ernor Caleb Carr ; Barbara, with her 
husband, James Barker, to be chosen 
the next year, deputy-governor ; Fran- 



Att Iftstnrir Strain nf H006 in Am^rtrtt 



ces and her husband, Major Randall 
Holden, ancestors of several of 
Rhode Island's governors and one of 
Washington ; Weston Clarke, then 
attorney-general; James, Latham and 
Jeremiah Clarke, with their sons and 
daug'hters, and Reverend Thomas 
Dungan, who, perhaps, was the one 
to say the last sacred words over his 
mother's grave. 

Progeny of Frances Clarke — 
Their Intermarriages in America 

1. Barbara Dungan, born 1628, in 
England, the first born child of Fran- 
ces Latham, married James Barker, 
corporal, 1644; ensign, 1648; member 
of General Court of Elections, 1648, 
commissioner three years ; Royal 
Charterer, 1663; deputy, assistant- 
governor, deputy-governor in 1678. 

Of their children, Elizabeth mar- 
ried Nicholas Easton, grandson of 
Governors Easton and Coggeshall ; 
Mary married first, Elisha Smith ; 
second, Israel Arnold, deputy eight 
years, grandson of Governor Bene- 
dict Arnold. Peter married Freelove 
Bliss, also a grandchild of Governor 
Arnold, and William married Eliza- 
beth Easton, sister to Nicholas Eas- 
ton, who had married his sister Eliza- 
beth, and so grand-daughter of two 
governors- 

2. William Dungan. 

3. Francis Dungan, born 1630, in 
England, married Major Randall 
Holden, signer of the compact at 
Portsmouth, 1637-1638; signer of the 
compact at Warwick, 1642- 1643 ! 
commissioner, nine years. 

Their daughter, Frances, married 
John Holmes, general treasurer of 
Rhode Island 1690-1710; lieutenant, 
1696: Elizabeth married John Rice, 
deputy, 1710; Mary married John 
Carder, deputy, 1678-1696; Sarah 
married Joseph Stafford ; Randall, 
deputy, 1696-1699; 1 700- 1 704- 17 14- 
1715-1721 ; assistant, 1705- 1725, 
twenty years; major for the main, 
1706; speaker of the House of Dep- 
uties, 1714-1715 ; married Bethiah 
Waterman ; Margaret married John 



Eldred, ensign, 1692; later, captain 
and assistant, 1699-1717, fifteen 
years; Lieutenant Charles, deputy, 
1710-1716, married Catherine, daugh- 
ter of Deputy-Governor John Greene ; 
Barbara married Samuel Wickham, 
deputy, 1701 - 1703- 1704- 1707- 1709- 
1710; clerk of Assembly, 1703-1709- 
17 10, and Susannah married Benja- 
min, son of Honorable Thomas 
Greene. 

Frances Dungan and Major Ran- 
dall Holden number several govern- 
ors of Rhode Island and one of 
Washington among their descend- 
ants, and many other of the most 
distinguished men and women of the 
country. 

4. Reverend Thomas Dungan was 
one of the "47" who took grant of 
five thousand acres to be called East 
Greenwich. Lie was serjeant in 
1676; deputy, 1 676- 1 68 1, and in 1684, 
minister of the First Baptist Church 
in Cold Spring, Pennsylvania, mov- 
ing there in 1684. 

Morgan Edwards, writing of the 
old church, which was broken up in 
1702, says: "The Reverend Thomas 
Dungan, the first Baptist minister in 
the province, now exists (1770) in a 
progeny of between 600 and 700. He 
married Elizabeth Weaver, daughter 
of Clement. 

"He is said to have been a man of 
great learning, having studied with 
his step-father, the Reverend Mr. 
Vaughan, of Newport." From him 
descend many of Pennsylvania's best 
families. 

5. Walter Clarke, born 1640, mar- 
ried, first. Content Greenman ; sec- 
ond, Hannah Scott, daughter of Rich- 
ard ; third, Mrs. Freeborn Hart, 
daughter of Roger Williams, and 
fourth, Mrs. Sarah Gould, daughter 
of Matthew Prior. 

He was assistant 1 673- 1674- 1675- 
1 699 ; governor, 1 676 - 1 677 - 1 686 - 
1696- 1697- 1698 ; deputy -governor 
twenty-three years ; member of Sir 
Edmund Andros' Council, 1686. 

Hannah, his daughter by his sec- 
ond wife, Hannah Scott, married Dr. 



Jfranr^fi Slattjam Ollark^ — iHnlJj^r of (BttwrntttB 



Thomas Rodman, who came to New- 
port from Barbadoes in 1675. He 
was a prominent member of the Soci- 
ety of Friends and an eminent physi- 
cian and surgeon. In 1686, Dr. Rod- 
man purchased a "propriety" in New 
Jersey. It was a large tract of land 
extending into three counties, and 
with the exception of five hundred 
acres, exchanged, in 1710, for a plan- 
tation in Barbadoes, descended to his 
children. 

Of their children, Hannah married 
Philip Wanton of the noted Rhode 
Island "Governors" family; Clarke 
married Anne Coggeshall. He was 
a physician in Newport and an es- 
teemed minister of the Society of 
Friends. Tradition says that a mem- 
orable sermon of his was upon this 
text : 

A man of words and not of deeds, 
Is like a garden full of weeds. 

Samuel married Mary Willett, 
< daughter of Colonel Thomas Willett, 
of Long Island. He was Justice of 
the Peace in Newport, 1739. 

Patience married Jonathan Easton, 
son of Nicholas. 

6. Mary Clarke, born 1641, mar- 
ried Dr. and Captain John Cranston, 
attorney-general for Providence atid 
Warwick, 1654-1655-1656; commis- 
sioner, 1655- 1659- 1660- 1661- 1663; 
deputy, 1664-1669; assistant, 1668- 
1 669- 1 670- 1671 - 1672 ( 1676- 1677- 
1678:)? deputy-governor, 1672-1673- 
1676- 1 677- 1 678; major and chief 
captain of all the colony, 1676; gov- 
ernor, 1 678- 1 679- 1 680. 

Their son, Samuel Cranston, was 
assistant, 1696; major for the islands, 
1698, and governor of Rhode Island, 
1698- 1 727, the longest term known. 
Their second son, Colonel John, was 
deputy nine years, speaker of the 
House of Deputies, 1711-1716; assist- 
ant, 1746. 

Their daughter, Elizabeth, married, 
first, Captain John Brown, who was 
deputy eight years, and appointed on 
a special council to assist the gov- 
ernor in advice for the speedy expe- 



dition of the great design now in- 
tended against Canada. She married, 
second. Reverend James Honeyman, 
rector of Trinity Church, Newport. 

7. Jeremiah Clarke, born 1642- 
1643, was deputy for Newport ten 
years, 1696-1706. (See chart for his 
descendants.) 

8. Latham Clarke, born 1645, was 
member of Court Martial 1676; dep- 
uty, 1681-1682-1683-1685-1690-1691- 
1698; married, first, Hannah Wilbur, 
and second, Anne Newbury. 

Their children married into the 
Thurston, Fry and Stanton families. 

9. Weston Clarke, born 1648, was 
member of Court Martial, 1676; 
attorney- general, 1676- 1677- 1680- 
1681-1683- 1684- 1685- 1686; general 
treasurer, 1681-1686; general re- 
corder, twenty-two years, between 
1690 and 1715; commissioner of 
boundaries, 1703- 1704; on commit- 
tee to draw up laws for the colony. 
He married Mary, grand-daughter 
of Governor Nicholas Easton. 

10. James Clarke, born 1649, was 
pastor of Second Baptist Church of 
Newport, from 1701 until his death 
in 1736. He and his wife, Hope 
Power, are interred in Newport Cem- 
etery. 

11. Sarah Clarke, born 165 1, mar- 
ried, first, John Pinner, and second, 
Caleb Carr of Newport. He was 
commissioner, 1654-1658-1659-1660- 
1661-1662; general treasurer, 1661- 
1662; deputy, twelve years, between 
1664 and 1691 ; assistant, 1679-1691 ; 
governor, 1695. 

Their grand-daughter, Mary God- 
frey, married Governor William 
Wanton, whose son Joseph, by a 
former wife, and two nephews were 
governors of Rhode Island. She 
married, second, Daniel Updyke. 

Strong Men and Women Descended 
from Beautiful Frances Latham 

Time would fail me to mention all 
the distinguished descendants of 
Frances Latham, who are scattered 
over this broad land, but among them, 



An 2|tj0t0rtr Strain nf llnnft in Am^rtra 



by blood or marriage, were Colonel 
Daniel Updyke, attorney-general of 
Rhode Island twenty-five years; 
Samuel Wickham, one of the original 
members of the Newport Artillery 
Company, speaker of the House of 
Deputies, 1747; deputy, 1744-1748; 
Colonel Benjamin Wickham, speaker 
of the House of Deputies, 1757, and 
deputy, three years ; Colonel Chris- 
topher Lippitt, of the Revolutionary 
War; Honorable Ray Greene, attor- 
ney-general of Rhode Island and 
senator, 1799-1801 ; Honorable Tris- 
tam Burgess, senator and chief jus- 
tice of the Supreme Court of Rhode 
Island ; Colonel Tristam Burgess, of 
the Civil War, whose sons — Arnold, 
settling in Michigan, and Tristam in 
California, carried the blood into the 
Western states ; the noted Julia Ward 
Howe, whose sister, Louisa, married 
Thomas Crawford, the sculptor; Gen- 
eral William Greene Ward and oth- 
ersof the Ward family ; also Colonel 
Christopher Greene, one of the most 
gallant officers of the Revolution. 
Having served his native state as a 
member of the Colonial Legislature 
until the commencement of the war, 
he went at once into service, as lieu- 
tenant of the Kentish Guards. Later, 
he served under his illustrious kins- 
man, General Nathaniel Greene. 

Promoted to a colonelcy in 1777, 
his military career was a brilliant 
one, until, surprised by the enemy 
at dawn on the fourteenth of May, 
1 78 1, at Croton River, he yielded up 
his life at the early age of forty- 
four. Within a few years the state 
of New York has honored his mem- 
ory and those who fell with him, by 
erecting a monument on the site of 
the battle. 

His eldest daughter married — cap- 
tain of the Revolution, and major of 
the War of 1812 — Thomas Hughes, 
and his eldest son. Job Greene, served 
in the Revolution, and was an origi- 
nal member of the Rhode Island So- 
ciety of the Cincinnati. 

Mention must also be made of 
Judge Anthony Low of Rhode Island ; 



Major Philip Low of the Revolution, 
officer in a Georgia Regiment; Cap- 
tain Samuel Low, of old Warwick, 
Rhode Island; Jahleel Brenton,. 
grandson of Governor William Bren- 
ton, sheriff, 1721-1733, and deputy, 
1737; his son, Jahleel Brenton, rear- 
admiral of the British Navy, and his 
son. Sir Jahleel Brenton. 

Through the marriage of Hannah 
Clarke, daughter of Governor Wal- 
ter, with Dr. Thomas Rodman, there 
descended, by blood or marriage. Dr. 
Thomas Rodman, surgeon in the 
Continental Army, 1759; William 
Rodman, whose marriage with Lydia 
Gardner, daughter of Deputy-Gov- 
ernor John Gardner, gave to their 
daughter, Mary, the wife of Stephen 
Hopkins, son of the signer of the 
Declaration of Independence, a dou- 
ble strain of blood, from Frances 
Latham, and William Mitchell Rod- 
man, Mayor of Providence. Also 
Professor Francis Greenwood Pea- 
body of Harvard Divinity School^ 
and Walter Langdon Kane, of New 
York and Newport, are of this line. 

Lieutenant-Colonel William Logan 
Rodman, of the Civil War, Sarah 
Logan Wister, with her sons, Brig- 
adier-General Langhorne, and Cap- 
tain Francis Wister, the lovely Mary 
Fleming Hare, wife of Sussex Dela- 
ware Davis, and William H. Hunt,. 
Secretary of the Navy, 1881, and 
United States Minister to Russia in* 
1882, come of this line also. 

Among them, too, must be men- 
tioned the beautiful Mary Stockton 
Rotch, grand-daughter of Richard 
Stockton of New Jersey, who, with 
her husband, Captain Charles Hunter; 
of the United States Navy, and' 
young daughter Caroline, was lost in 
the "Ville de Havre," November, 1873. 

The Reverend Thomas Dungan,. 
who settled in Pennsylvania, is 
claimed as ancestor by many of the 
most eminent families of that noble 
state. Among his descendants of note 
are named Lieutenant-Colonel Dun- 
gan of Philadelphia County Artillery,. 
1780; George Elkins of Maryland,. 



3tmttB IGalliam Clarke — lUntij^r nf (ilnwrttor^ 



and Pennsylvania, who was one of 
the brave defenders of his country 
the War of 1812 with Great 



in 



Britain ; George Washington Elkins 
of Pittsburgh, to whom, largely, that 
city owes — in a business way — what 
it is to-day, and the late William Lu- 
kens Elkins, of Philadelphia, capital- 



ist, who was not only one of the most 
eminent business men of Philadel- 
phia, but deeply interested in the de- 
velopment of art in this country, 
offering a prize of $5,000 for the 
most meritorious painting exhibited 
by an American artist at the Pennsyl- 
vania Academy of Fine Arts. 



A MOTHER OF AMERICAN GOVERNORS 

Frances Latham, Daughter of Lewis Latham, the Falconer to King 
Charles I, who came to America and established a lineal de- 
scent of Eminent American Political Leaders, the following Gov- 
ernors claiming her as Ancestress by lineal descent or marriage: 

Jeremiah Clarke, her husband, Governor of Rhode Island, 1648 
*WaIter Clarke.t Governor of Rhode Island, 1676, — six years 
*John Cranston, Governor of Rhode Island, 1678-1679-1680 
*Samnel Cranston,} Governor of Rhode Island, 1698-1727 
*Caleb Carr, Governor of Rhode Island, 1695 
*William Greene, Governor of Rhode Island, 1743-1758 
fHenry Lippitt,$ Governor of Rhode Island, 1875-1877 
fCharles Warren Lippitt,$ Governor of Rhode Island, 1895-1896 
*Nehemiah Rice Knight,} Governor of Rhode Island, 1817-1821 
*William Greene, 2nd,$ Governor of Rhode Island, 1778-1785 
♦William Wanton, Governor of Rhode Island, 1732-1733 
fCharles Collins Van Zandt, Governor of Rhode Island, 1877-1880 
tjohn Rankin Rogers,} Governor of Washington, 1896-1902 

DEPUTY OR LIEUTENANT GOVERNORS 

James Barker, Lieutenant-Governor of Rhode Island, 1678 

John Cranston, Lieutenant-Governor of Rhode Island, 1672-1676-1678 

John Gardiner,} Lieutenant-Governor of Rhode Island, 1754-1756-1764 

Walter Clarke,} Lieutenant-Governor of Rhode Island, 1679-1714 — fourteen years 

William Greene, ist, Lieutenant-Governor of Rhode Island, 1740-1743 

William Greene, 2nd,} Lieutenant-Governor of Rhode Island 

Samuel Greene Arnold,} Lieutenant-Governor of Rhode Island, 1852-1853 

William Greene,} Lieutenant-Governor of Rhode Island, 1866-1868 

Charles C. Van Zandt,} Lieutenant-Governor of Rhode Island, 1873-1875 

Nearly all the early governors of Rhode Island are connected with Frances Latham either by blood or 
marriage with her descendants — The sign • is here used to designate governorship under the Royal Char- 
ter; t under the Constitution adopted in 1842: J Lineal Descendant 



